Comparative Study of English and Chinese Taboo in International Communication

王偉興

【Abstract】From ancient times to present, the verbal taboo exists in every society and nation, it is a commonly existing cultural phenomenon among the various nationalities in the earth and it regulates the humans behavior, language and social communication. Verbal taboo is an important part of language culture and it reflects the different cultural backgrounds, historical customs, national religion, sense of worth and other special features of every nation, so studying the verbal taboo has great meaning to culture and language.

【Key words】Verbal taboo; Intercultural communication; Cultural difference

Taboo is a commonly existing cultural phenomenon among the various nationalities in the earth which regulates the humans behavior, language and social communication. And the great difference between Chinese and English culture directly causes the great difference between Chinese and English verbal taboos. Therefore, whatever in Chinese and English, we usually meet some words which they would make the opposing side strong disgust and we should avoid using them.

The differences between Chinese and Western verbal taboos

There are numbers of verbal taboo exist in both English and Chinese. Chinese taboo on “4”, because the pronunciation of “4” is like the pronunciation of “dead” in Chinese. Whatever is phone number, license plate number or house number, as long as there is “4” in them, no one would shows any interest in them, except for some special departments. Theres an ancient saying “whatever is nine or a multiple of nine in age, it may be either dead or sick. People seldom tell their own age straight forwardly with “9” to others, and they would use euphemism to express the age. For example, a thirty-six year old man will say he was thirty-five last year or next year he will be thirty-seven. As we know, the English taboo number is thirteen. Because the “Bible” records that Judah who betrayed Jesus is on the table thirteenth, the westerns are not interested in the “13”. The hotel has no room No. thirteen, seaman refused to set out on a voyage in thirteen and all of important activities are not carried out on the thirteenth.

The similarities between Chinese and Western verbal taboos

Mentioning illness and death verbal taboo, the verbal taboo of death come into our mind first. Whether in the China or western, all people would evade the death. If people have to mention the death, they would use other ways to replace this word. There are many euphemisms of death in Chinese, such as “去世”、“走了”、“去了”、“作古”,and so on. We call soldiers who died on the battlefield “sacrifice”, and call the death of babe abortion. Whether out of courtesy or feelings, people will use the above statement to replace “death”. Of course, the statement in English is similar to that in Chinese. People wont say “he is dead” straightforward, and they would use other ways to replace it, such as be taken to paradise，to go to ones long home，to be at peace, and so on. In addition, like depart, go to a better world, be in heaven, be with God, people can use them to replace the word “die”. They are the embodiment of the instinct of peoples survival and fear of death.

Guiding Taboo culture in proper time

Language is the carrier of culture and is also affected by culture. If you do not understand a nations culture, then you could not grasp the nations language. We should also pay attention to those words carrying profound cultural connotation. Each language had its unique history. Some words were endowed with specific cultural connotation in specific cultural background. Therefore, if both sides could thoroughly understand the implication of taboo words in cultural dimension and find the differences of cultural connotation by making comparison between different cultures, they would better understand what kind of words was tabooed in such culture.

In conclusion, the contrastive study of English and Chinese verbal taboos would help us understand the cultural connotation of the language, avoid the communication failure, achieve the perfect result of communication and make the cross-cultural communication more appropriate. In addition, it can improve the appreciation ability and application level in English.

Referneces:

[1]Elizabeth Gage.Taboo[M].London,Corgi Books,1993.

[2]Wallace B.Alan.The Taboo of Subjectivity:Toward a New Science of Consciousness,Oxford:New York:Oxford University Press 2000.